Article excerpt

WHAT Czechoslovak President Vaclav Havel called "the wheel of
history" has spun so rapidly during the last few days that heads
here are reeling. The president's phrase came in reaction to news of
the Soviet coup Monday morning, which, he said, "reminds us of very
sad events more than 20 years ago at the same time of year."

Wednesday marked the 23rd anniversary of the Soviet invasion that
crushed the Prague Spring reforms of 1968. This is only the second
year that Czechoslovakia has been free to commemorate the day as a
tragedy and not as a Soviet propaganda event. News of Soviet leader
Mikhail Gorbachev's overthrow just two days prior had stirred
unhappy memories and new fears for Czechoslovakia's fledgling
democracy. Now there is relief as Czechs, along with other East
Europeans, have seen the Soviet coup disintegrate.

But before that wave of relief, the hastily established state
defense council, headed by Deputy Interior Minister Jan Ruml,
fortified the nation's eastern border in anticipation of a possible
wave of refugees. Though Mr. Ruml appealed for calm, he said, "We
must take measures to ensure that it would be impossible to again
wake up some misty morning and find ourselves occupied by foreign
armies."

Jumpy Czechoslovak motorists raced to the gas pump for fear that
the flow of oil from the Soviet Union, their main supplier, would
dry up. Three-hour petrol queues spilled out onto highways, causing
traffic jams, and factory workers huddled around transistor radios
during breaks to hear the latest bulletins from Moscow.

But Wednesday afternoon news that coup leaders had fled reached
tens of thousands of people gathered in Prague's Wenceslas Square.
The solemn demonstration called to commemorate the 1968 invasion and
protest the Soviet coup ended in jubilation, reaffirming
Czechoslovakia's commitment to democracy and economic reform.

"The last two days have put our own problems into perspective,"
said Jan Petranek, a journalist from the leading independent
newspaper Lidove Noviny. …